Kentucky’s Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman (D-KY) will be running in 2027 to replace her term-limited boss, Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY), as the state’s next governor.
The former history teacher made the announcement on Monday, becoming the first Democrat and prominent politician to declare her candidacy in the race to lead the Bluegrass State. Coleman’s announcement will kick off the race that could bring a lot of prominent Kentucky names to the field, including Reps. James Comer (R-KY) and Thomas Massie (R-KY), who have each flirted with a potential bid.
“If you are looking for somebody to talk less about politicians and more about you, for someone who listens more than they talk, here she is,” Coleman said at a press conference Monday morning.
Beshear tapped Coleman as his running mate during his first gubernatorial election in 2019. The duo was then re-elected in 2023.
Before she first ran for lieutenant governor in 2019, Coleman served as the assistant principal of Nelson County High School in Bardstown, Kentucky. In 2013, Coleman founded a nonprofit group called Lead Kentucky that advocates for women in leadership positions across the state.
The Kentuckian is also a former basketball coach who helped coach the University of Louisville women’s basketball team. Like Beshear, the son of a former Kentucky governor, Coleman also has a prominent family in the commonwealth, as her father, Jack Coleman, served in the Kentucky House, and her grandfather, Jack Coleman Sr., played for the Louisville men’s basketball team and in the NBA.
Coleman’s candidacy announcement kicks off the 2027 gubernatorial race to replace Beshear, who is term-limited and has hinted at a possible presidential bid of his own in 2028. One Republican, commonwealth attorney Rick Hardin, has filed the paperwork so far to run for governor in 2027 as well.
But the field is expected to bring some heavy hitters on the GOP side, with Comer, Massie, and Secretary of State Michael Adams publicly weighing a run.
Comer addressed whether or not he would give a gubernatorial run another go in a 2025 local news interview, saying: “Everyone that knows me knows that my heart’s in Kentucky.” Comer previously ran for governor in 2015, conceding the primary to former Gov. Matt Bevin after coming up just 83 votes short.
“I do feel like, with Beshear being term-limited, there’s going to, obviously, be an opportunity for a new leader in Kentucky, and I think that I could provide that leadership,” Comer said last year. “We won’t be making a decision anytime soon, but it’s something I’m very seriously considering doing.”
When asked for comment on Coleman’s announcement and an update on his possible gubernatorial bid in 2027, Comer told the Washington Examiner, “I wish her all the best.”
Massie told a crowd in Louisville that if he makes it through his May 19 primary against President Donald Trump-endorsed challenger Ed Gallrein for his own congressional seat, then he “would consider” a run for governor.
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Beshear took his last two elections by margins of 0.4 and 5 percentage points, respectively. He first defeated Bevin in 2019 and then former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron in 2023.
Despite its Democratic governor, Kentucky has been Trump country in the last three presidential elections, with Trump taking the state in 2024 by 30.6 percentage points. The commonwealth also has a state legislature that is over 80% GOP-controlled.